Talking City Live: with ASK ANNA

This Tuesday my new project Talking City Live kicks off. This is a commission from Art in Empty Spaces Project SHOP in Stoke Town. The project, led by Gemma Thomas has seen an empty shop in Stoke revived and revitalised - bringing hundreds of visitors into the town from far and wide to enjoy the multitude (and variety) of projects which have been taking place.
Tuesday will be Episode One, where ASK ANNA will be popping over to the Roundtable event at the Kings Hall, Stoke to hopefully video the event. Urbed (urban design company) have been employed to draw up a masterplan for Stoke Town (with a focus on the Spode site) and will be talking to people about this.
I will go along as ASK ANNA to meet the team and try to interview a few people, and also set up some Interview slots for the coming 'Episodes' to be broadcast from SHOP.
There will also be a number of opportunities for other artists and interested parties to get involved with two different Saturday events.

Saturday, 16th October: 1pm - Walking in the City (A talk about my practice to date.)

Saturday, 23 October: 1 - 2 TALKING CITY ON LOCATION in Stoke Town Tour (Episode Four)

Where I will lead a tour of Stoke Town, which will attempt to point out parts of the town that are working, as well as picking up on the areas which require most intervention. This is a session for artists, encouraging new ways of looking and seeing. Then we will return to SHOP and do a revisioning session from 2 – 5pm: Revisioning Stoke Town.

This session will be a chance to consider what we would like to see happening to the Town. The results will be on display in SHOP and the Urbed team will be invited to explore the artists findings which could inform their thoughts about the regeneration plans.
The three LIVE shows which will broadcast from SHOP will take place at the following times:

Episode Two: Saturday 16 October, 3 – 4pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

Episode Three: Friday 22 October, 7 – 8pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

Episode Five: Thursday 28 October, 7 – 8pm, Live Interviews (SHOP)

I already have some of the slots sorted for the Episodes, and these will include, Gemma Thomas (SHOP project manager), Behjat Omar Abdulla (Studio Artist at SHOP), Kevin Bell (Town Regen Manager of Stoke), The Boat Band (Musicians and regular visitors to SHOP) I also hope to carry out some demonstrations i.e. Cooking with Oatcakes, and floral arrangements - and I would like to get the Guy from the Record shop to talk through his top 5 records of all time, and also interview some of the volunteers that have been involved in the project...there is still alot to organise and get off the ground. Then once everything is complete it will be edited to create a 60 minute program, for the SHOP website, and as a record of the SHOP project.

If you would like to be interviewed as part of Talking City Live then email: shop@shop-stoke.co.uk.